The evening world., 1887-12-02

reporter, and want some facts" she said,
after an inquiry by the reporter. Well, /
can give you some about our trade. but don't
ask me for my name: for if my boss knew
that l told you anything for the newspaper
he might discharge me. That wouldn't do,
especially Just now-coming on Christmas
for If l lost my job don't believe | could
get another right away"
The reporter promised that he would not
print her name, and she continued, various
questions being PROFOUND as she went along
with her story.
There about two hundred girls, as near
as ] can tell, who who work in twenty shops
sewing covers for umbrella frames. This is
our busiest season and there are no idle ones
about. The ages Of the girls range from
few much older than twenty. We get an
average of 50 q week each for sixty hours
work, beginning each day at 7 O'Clock in the
morning and stopping at 9 in the evening.
Avenue A, in two rooms on the fifth floor of
a tenement house. Mother takes in sewing
and makes n few dollars "A week. We pay IS
a month rent, and live better than some of
the girls I know who are orphans and depend
entirely on themselves for support. Mother
does the homework with q little assistance
from me i'll the morning and at night.
1--WE live very plainly, For breakfast we
have coffee or milk. bread and butter. and
sometimes meat or eggs. l take my lunch
uholAb WIN i"S W. Nhp ~ = " -
sandwich Of bread and corned beef, with q
boiled egg, and occasionally a piece of pie or
cake. Our best meal is at supper, when we
have n nice steak and boiled potatoes and a
cup of ten. OF course we cannot afford to
get choice sirloin cuts. We seldom have
pastry at our meals.
Out of about $40 a week we manage to
save enough to buy plain clothes, but we cans
not save any money, and that's what worries
us both for we can't tell when one or the
other Of us will fall sick. Dear me, / don't
know what l should do II anything
should happen to mother, or il / should get
sick. But we are both quite well, though we
need n vacation badly.
"Do we amuse ourselves? Mostly by
reading until 10 or II o'clock. Sometimes IN
evening edition of THE WORLD now, or O
weekly story paper. / seldom get an invita-
ton to the theatre. Yes, I have a beau, but
take mt out often. l sometimes go to q sur
prise party Mt some neighbours house or
visit some 81 my shop mates in the evening,
but / rarely go to a ball. Mother doesn't like
TO have me stay out late, and l don't like to
cling, though, particularly waltzing, like
nearly all my girl friends.
In the summer time l go to two or three
picnics and once or twice to Coney Island.
Some of my shop mates, who are not as par
the theatres, but they get pretty we'll tired
out dancing until 8 or 1 in the morning and
then getting up at @ and going to work ut 7.
with few exceptions the girls in the UNI
brella shops are poor and cannot afford to
spend their earnings for amusements, and
they are always glad TO accept almost any
ones invitation to go to aparty, a ball or a
theatre"
"Do, you belong to any labor organizationp"
was asked.
"Oh. yes" she replied. "All the girls In
trade are Knights of Labor. We belong
to the Umbrella Makers Local Assembly. 1t
helps US to keep up our wages, If nothing
more. j think that the men who make the
sticks and frames get $12 a week each. We
all work the year round, and that is one
reason why our wages are small. think
that we girls ought to get more, for l know
we earn II. It is said that the bosses
make lots Of money in the umbrella trade,
and they conld afford to give ns more. Oh,
if we had only a dollar more a week we could
save q little something for IN unlucky time.
There, guess I've told you all l know, and
III bid yop good evening" saying which
she tripped of toward her home, across
town.
From other sources the reporter learned
that there are but two shops where the sticks
and frames and covers for umbrellas are all
made. The sticks are mostly MANUFACTURED
in separate establishments devoted exclus-
lively to the work. The girls who sew the
covers for umbrellas are supplied with sew
ing machines and thread and needles by their
employers. TIL stick makers have IN indie
pendent open trades union, and the frame
makers and cover sewers are members of q
Local Assembly of the Knights of Labor.